Do hosts replenish supplies, toilet paper, toiletries for long rentals?

We normally have rentals of days, two weeks and occasionally a month. We have a booking for three months and wonder if other hosts would replenish regularly supplied amenities; toilet paper, toiletries, cleaning supplies?
Thank you

Personally if the stay is longer than two weeks, we do not replace any items. It hasn’t been an issue and we leave a lot of supplies available (four rolls of TP per bathroom). If a guest were to ask about supplies, I would definitely have our host stop by to deliver some extras. But, I don’t voluntarily go to the house during guest stays. I try to respect their privacy as our property is a whole home.

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Thank you, that’s helpful. The rental is a separate guesthouse on the same property.

I guess it depends on how much you are charging. If you are getting your regular rate not only would I re-stock the consumables I would do a weekly clean and sheet change.

RR

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I would do whatever the guest/tenant and I have agreed to—either in a lease (if long term and not through Airbnb) or in my Airbnb listing.

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My welcome folder told guests to contact me if they ran out of supplies such as toilet paper, soap, shampoo, coffee, tea, etc. I stocked plenty of everything and the only thing guests ever asked me to replace was the 5-gallon bottle of water on the water dispenser.

Edit: I didn’t do rentals longer than 2 weeks on Airbnb, though. Off Airbnb, I didn’t promise those items even though I did stock enough for a couple weeks. @RiverRock’s answer is best, though. If you’re discounting it by 40% or 50% like Airbnb recommends, no way.

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I offer a significant discount for rentals >28 nights during my off season. I leave enough in the condo to get them started but my margin is slim so I don’t restock or provide cleaning services.

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Not by choice. Our maximum stay is 21 days (which rarely happens, it’s more likely to be 3 - 7 days) and the guests are expected to shop for what they need if and when the supplied consumables have run out.

I do tell guests to let me know if they need something and that doesn’t happen very often. When guests are staying for more than a few days, I do a mid-stay clean and at that time replenish loo paper if required. It rarely is as I leave plenty of everything.

They’re on their own for coffee, toiletries etc. Although I leave a good supply of both I’ve found that most guests have their own favourite brands.

I once had a call from a guest who was in the supermarket grocery shopping. She asked me if there was a bbq grill on the premises because she was wondering whether to buy grill-ables. A few hours later when she’s was back she contacted me asking if I could supply her with another bar of soap.

I wondered first how she had already used a full bar of soap but secondly why on earth she didn’t buy herself some at the supermarket. :slight_smile:

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A little digression here, we have been providing hand pump soap and body wash instead of soap as less messy, shower cleans easier, can buy larger size etc…do most hosts provide soap or body wash or is it a personal preference? No one has complained but curious

We supply wrapped bar soap. I have several sizes in stock so can vary it depending on the length of stay.

Personal preference I know, but when I’m staying somewhere I prefer the idea of using soap that no-one else has used (hence the ‘wrapped’) and pump dispensers always seem like a cheap option. (I did say it was just my personal preference!)

I use liquid soap at home and always water it down a bit so I tend to imagine that hosts could do that so I’d be getting a lower-quality lather. :wink: (I’m excluding present company of course!)

Often there are slivers of soap left over when a guest leaves. I chop them up into a jar, pour boiling water over them and use the resultant jelly for general cleaning so there’s no waste.

So my hubby always preferred regular soap, too, until he took over scrubbing the showers down and saw how much cleaner our showers at home stayed and no bathtub ring etc…when he used body wash then he switched over completely to body wash. But, no, we do not water down our hand soap or body wash—yikes—and we change out regularly. Can bacteria really live in soap for very long?

Most soap is not antibacterial. It works by breaking the ionic bonds between dirt, germs, oil etc. and the surface to be cleaned so the debris washes away.

Water isn’t sterile so there’s always some bacteria somewhere.

Airbnb’s list of essential amenities. I could not post the link.

Good to know. Would hosts recommend we switch to an antibacterial hand pump soap, I thought it would be too harsh and do not use it myself but its worth a discussion.

I use antibacterial hand soap in the kitchen. My bath soaps and hand soap in bathroom are not antibacterial.

Our skin is covered with beneficial bacteria. Over cleaning with antibacterial soap kills those protective bacteria thus giving harmful bacteria a “vacancy” so it can colonize our skin. So I don’t provide antibacterial soap for bathing.

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Looking at the list, there is no requirement to put “extra” sheets out for short stays of 4 days or less, and I do not leave them. I have 3 sets for each of the 2 beds now—some dandy new percale— and a
Lacking still on storage so could get caught short under the wrong circumstances. If they need another set of sheets we are 10 minutes away and would happily come over. I do leave an extra blanket for each room. Do most hosts leave out extra sheets?

This is an interesting article on soap and bacteria

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I had went to the larger pump style products until the CV19 hit then I went back to the individuals. Now I put the individuals in the medicine cabinet and am finding they are barely used. Out of sight out of mind, or people are bringing more of their own stuff either way less waste.

RR

We supply foaming hand soap at the bathroom sink and shower gel and shampoo in the shower. No bars of soap at all.

All the products we supply (and many we use) are from one earth-friendly brand. They are probably not a brand that anyone recognizes, but it’s the brand we use for laundry, cleaning supplies, and in our bathroom. No one has ever complained. In fact, some guests have bought them from us.

Yes I do, even for short stays. Of course, we don’t want to even start to think of what ‘accidents’ might occur on a bed but even spilling a bottle of water would cause a guest an uncomfortable night.

Although I live a stone’s throw from both rentals, I’d rather the guests use a spare sheet from the apartment if necessary rather than wake me up in the middle of the night needing me to get up and take them one. So it’s easier for the guest and easier for me.

Even though there’s no official requirement, it’s better for the host and guest in the case of wet or otherwise bedding to let the guests sort it out themselves. (It also solves any immediate embarrassment for the guests should the cause be something other than a simple water spillage - assuming they have access to a washing machine.)
:roll_eyes:

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